Ampule



United States Patent O AMPULE Marshall L. Lockhart, Rutherford, N. J.

Application August 1, 1952, Serial No. 302,061

3 Claims. (Cl. 12S- 218) This invention relates to a structurally andfunctionally improved ampule and especially an ampule for use inconnection with hypodermic syringes of the type shown, for example, inmy prior applications for United States Letters Patent, Serial Nos.575,980 now Patent No. 2,574,339, and 635,928, now abandoned.

The present application is a continuation-in-part of my prior case onAmpule, filed in the United States Patent Oce on October 24, 1946, andidentified under Serial No. 705,300, now abandoned.

It is an object of the invention to provide an ampule adapted to containmedicament and which ampule will embody a construction such that any airretained therein will not be expressed through the needle of thehypodermic syringe as the ampule is discharged.

Rather, any air bubble which is present in the compartment or body ofthe ampule will, under ordinary operating technique, remain within thatcompartment although the medicament contents of the latter aresubstantially completely expressed. l

A further object is that of providing a unit of this type and theconstruction of which will prevent any injurious contact between theinner end of the cannula or needle and the body of the ampule.Accordingly, the inner end of the needle will not have its piercingpoint damaged incident to such contact and whereby normally that needleor the entire holder assembly would be rendered unfit for fur ther use.

An additional object is the providing of a device of this type whichwill embody a relatively simple construction capable of being producedlargely by automatic machinery and methods and with minimum expense.

With these and other objects in mind reference is had to the attachedsheet of drawings illustrating practical embodiments of the inventionand in which,

Fig. l is a sectional side view of an ampule showing one form ofconstruction;

Fig. 2 is a similar view of the ampule in association with a holder orsyringe;

Fig. 3 shows an unfilled ampule embodying an alternative construction;

Fig. 4 shows the ampule illustrated in Fig. 3 lwith one compartmentfilled and the other discharged; and

Fig. 5 is a view similar to Fig. 4, but showing a still further designof ampule.

With primary reference to Figs. 1 and 2, it will be seen that thereference number indicates a cylindrical ampule body formed of glass orother suitable material and preferably centrally subdivided by apartition 11, thus furnishing a double compartment and double endedampule. The outer ends of these compartments are closed by Stoppers orplugs 12. The construction of these plugs may be as taught in my priorapplications for United States Letters Patent Serial No. 575,980, nowPatent No. 2,574,339, and Serial No. 635,928, now abandoned. As will beunderstood, the compartments of the ampule are ordinarly filled withmedicament 13 in liquid form, which medicament is to be expressed fromthe ampule into the tissues or veins of a patient by means of ahypodermic syringe or holder. Such a holder has been somewhatdiagrammatically illustrated in Fig. 2 in which a cylindrical body 14has one of its ends closed as at 15, its opposite end being open. Aneedle 16 extends through the closed end portion and also through andbeyond a thrust portion 17, and has its inner end terminating in a point18.

As will be understood the accepted technique is that of introducing theend of an ampule into the body of the Ffice holder 14 and thereuponexerting a thrust upon that ampule. Continued inward projection willresult in the pointed end 18 of the needle piercing the first or innerplug or stopper 12. Further relative movement will result in Contactbeing established between this stopper and the outer end of the thrustportion 17, which will then act to shift the plug within the ampule.Accordingly, the plug will function as a piston to express themedicament through the bore of the needle until the plug has reached theeXtreme inner limit of its travel.

As will also be well understood, in charging the compartment orcompartments of the ampule with medicament it is almost unavoidable thatsuch compartment will not be completely filled. In other words, a bubbleof air will normally remain within the compartment. Thereupon, as thenal portion of the medicament is expressed in the manner describedabove, the needle will enter the space at the inner end of thecompartment and within which space a pocket of air will be present.Accordingly, under continued projection of the parts, the entrapped airwill be expressed through the needle and so into the patient. Continuedrelative movements of the parts will result in the pointed inner endportion 18 of the needle moving into contact with the surface of theampule. This will inevitably result in a blunting or other damage to theneedle.

In order to avoid these difliculties, the inner end or ends arecounter-bored as indicated by the numeral 19, thus furnishing shoulderportions 20. The depth of these counter-borings should be such that thebody of any entrapped bubble or air mass may readily be accommodatedWithin the space thus defined. Also, the shoulder portions should haveareas such that they will provide an effective stop for the plug orstopper 12 and prevent its further inward movement despite a substantialthrust being exerted. The walls of the plug 12 form a skirt which isflexible and resilient. Upon abutment of the plug 12 with the shoulderportions 20, these walls collapse around the inner needle and yieldinglyresist contact between the inner needle end and the end of the ampule.Therefore, any damaging contact between the needle and the inner face ofthe ampule will be prevented.

As shown in Figs. 3 and 4, a different type of construction may beemployed to achieve the aforementioned results. In those figures, thereference numeral 21 indicates the body of the ampule with a centralpartition 22. Beads 23 are formed to extend inwardly, adjacent the baseportions of the compartments 24. Thus again a space is defined adjacentthe inner compartment ends, which space will be adequate to receive anyvolume of air normally present in the ampule. The beads 23 will functionas stops to prevent inward movement of the plugs 25 into theaforementioned spaces. The flexible resilient skirt of the plug 25collapses upon contact with the beads 23 around the inner needle end toyieldingly resist contact between the inner needle end 18 and thecentral partition 22. This will be despite the resiliency which may beincorporated in these plugs or Stoppers. Also, any damaging contactbetween the inner yend of the needle and the ampule is prevented.

A functionally similar structure is provided by the ampule illustratedin Fig. 5 in which the body 26 is formed with a central partition 27.Extending outwardly from this partition are abutment or spacing portions28. The area of the latter should be in excess of any bore formed in theplug 29. Thus, in cooperation with the inner face of the plug V29, theywill function as stops. The height of these abutments should be suchthat adequate space is present for any bubble of air entrapped with themass of medicament. Also these portions will prevent damaging contactwith the end of the ampule and the needle.

Thus, among others, the several objects of the invention as aforenotedare achieved. Obviously, a number of changes in construction andrearrangement of the parts might be resorted to without departing fromthe spirit of the invention as defined by the claims.

What is claimed is:

1. An ampule comprising in combination a tubular body open at one end,an imperforate, transversely extending wall spaced from said open endand integral with said body, a piston-type stopper sealing the open endof said ampule bore, a exible, resilient skirt portion dening a recessformed in said stopper, said recess facing said wall, a transverseportion on said stopper, stopper-arresting means in advance of saidtransverse wall integral with said body and disposed at a point adjacentand spaced axially from said transverse wall to engage said skirt and tocollapse said skirt in said recess so as to maintain the head wall ofsaid stopper spaced from said transverse Wall.

2. An ampule comprising a tubular body open at each end, an imperforatetransversely extending wall of said body intermediate the open ends andintegral with said body, said wall forming a double compartment in saiddouble open-ended ampule and an annular bead integral with said body andextending inwardly of the bore of the same at a point in advance of saidwall to provide a stopper arresting stop.

3. In combination a holder having a hollow barrel, a tubular ampuleslidably tted in said barrel to be reciprocable in said barrel, a thrustportion in said barrel integral with said holder, an open end of saidtubular ampule, a piston type stopper formed of exible, resilientmaterial sealing the open end of said ampule, an imperforate integraland transversely extending wall of said ampule, a flexible, resilientskirt portion of said stopper l 2 thereby in the direction of the ampuleWall and an annular bead integral with said ampule extending inwardly ofthe bore of said ampule at a point in advance of said wall to provide astopper-arresting stop so constructed and arranged as to collapse thewalls of said skirt around said inner needle end and to yieldinglyresist contact between the inner needle end and the wall of said ampule.

References Cited in the le of this patent Y UNITED STATES PATENTS SmithNov. 24, 1931 2,102,704 Hein Dec. 2l, 1937 2,153,594 Saffr Apr. l1, 19392,268,994 Smith Ian. 6, 1942

